Korea Life first out in year of heavy insurance-sector issuance

Korea's second largest life insurer seeks to raise up to $2 billion and grab a first-mover advantage over industry leader Samsung Life, which is expected to follow with its own listing later this year.

The listing of resources companies is expected to be one of the key trends in Asia this year -- a trend that has already started with the Hong Kong IPOs of Russian aluminium major UC Rusal and Mongolia-based coal miner SouthGobi Energy Resources in January.

But as the disappointment over Rusal's poor trading debut grows -- yesterday it closed 25.8% below its IPO price -- investor focus is shifting to another trend that is expected to characterise 2010,...